Author Interview with Elly Zupko, YA Fantasy

Deanna and Louise chat with Elly Zupko this week while trapped in a dark cellar. Yes, you read it right. Like Paranormal reality shows, we've decided to be locked in a cellar all week to see who stays the longest. At any time, we are allowed to call on our cells, if we get service....ummm better check....and request the door to be unlocked.

We have flashlights, sleeping bags, plenty of food/snacks and bottled water. Join us as we hang out with Elly and sleep among the night creatures...spiders, rats and who knows what else. Bahahaha 

Elly Zupko

Stuff Your Eyes With Wonder

Reader’s Haven: Hi Elly! Thank you for....well inviting us to this very dark and scary place. LOL Tell us a bit about yourself  that our readers might not know.

Elly:  I’m a new author, so your readers probably have a lot to learn about me! An interesting fact is that I’ve been working on an iteration of my debut novel, The War Master’s Daughter, in one iteration or another since I was 16 years old. With my 30th birthday approaching last year, I vowed to make it finally happen.

Reader’s Haven: What made you want to become a writer?

Elly: I’ve always been a natural storyteller. If you catch me at a party, I’m probably telling some tall tale, stretching out the moments that keep my audience in suspense. Writing was a natural extension of wanting to weave a good yarn. I just want my readers to get wrapped up and swept away. 

Reader’s Haven: Please share a bit about your new release, The War Master’s Daughter, without giving away any spoilers.

Elly:  In the midst of 16th century Europe, the once-peaceful nations of Mitoch and Fairgos are locked in a bitter war. Lady Aurora, however, has known only quiet privilege for her 21 years inside the walls of the Cavalcata manor house. As the educated, eavesdropping daughter of the Fairgosian Royal War Master, she is confident she knows more than most . . . except when the promised Fairgosian victory will bring her father home for good.

But when the currents of war sweep her, half dead, to the shores of brutal, backwards Mitoch, Aurora will unlearn everything she thought she knew—about the war, her country, her father, and herself—and discover what is really worth fighting for.

Reader’s Haven: Do you write under a pen name?

Elly:  I wanted to for the longest time! I used to hate my last name. But I’ve learned to love it, and you can find my books easily—they’re usually the last one on the bottom shelf.

Reader’s Haven: What types of hero or heroine do you like best?

Elly:  I love to write a hero who goes go on a psychological journey as well as a physical one. All people have so much to learn, but one first has to acknowledge their lack of knowledge before they can find the truth. The best heroes are the ones who know there is more and seek it out.

Reader’s Haven: Tell us about a typical day in your life as a writer.

Elly:  I haven’t been able to quit my day job yet, so I spend the 9-to-5 in an office doing technical writing. When I get home, I have a quick dinner (usually a veggie burger and sweet potato tots!) then settle in with my laptop . . . and maybe a glass of wine. My cats sit on either side of me, and I write until my eyes get blurry. I try not to go back and re-read what I’ve written previously; I’m a full-steam-ahead kind of gal. 
 

Reader’s Haven: Do your books have a common theme or are they all different?

Elly:  The book I’m writing now is very different from The War Master’s Daughter, but they share a common theme: No one knows the whole story. Every person is living from a different perspective, perceiving the world through different senses. That means there is not always one truth, but many.

Reader’s Haven: How long does it take you to write and then edit a story?

Elly:  If I’m doing a short story, I can usually draft it in a day or two, and editing takes another few days. If I’m working on a novel, the timeline is measured in years.

Reader’s Haven: Do you have to be alone to write?

Elly:  My cats would never have it! But no, I don’t have to be alone. To be productive, a writer has to be willing and able to write in many harrowing circumstances—including having other people around.

Reader’s Haven: (Louise) Did anyone bring some Raid? (Deanna) Just ignore the spider, Louise. Elly, how do you go about naming characters?

Elly:  *glances at the spider* Well, I’m a huge fan of BabyNames.com. I really enjoy etymology and using a name database like that helps me choose names that have significant meaning behind them. The character of Dymphna actually explains the story of her name in the book. However, sometimes I choose names just because I think the sound cool, like Storey and Cashel. 

Reader’s Haven: Is it easier to write about the characters if you find pictures of them before you write or do you write then find character pictures?

Elly:  I have a background in art and graphic novels, so I actually find myself drawing pictures of characters. I tape them up around my desk so I just have to glance up, see their face, and get a really emotive idea of who they are.

Reader’s Haven: How do you pick locations for your stories?

Elly:  For The War Master’s Daughter, I created two imaginary countries in a real setting. The plot required unique political environments and power structures, so I couldn’t just rely on what history had to offer. I designed Fairgos and Mitoch to be geographical representations of the human struggle happening among the characters.

Reader’s Haven: What are you working on now and what should readers be looking forward to from you in the future?

Elly: I plan to have a full draft of my next novel completed by the end of the year. Bugged is the story of a teenage girl maligned with delusional parasitosis and her strange relationship with her penpal—an entomologist. It should be ready for release by summer 2013! 

Reader’s Haven: Well, we've made it through one night. Five more to go. Where can readers find out more about you and your books? 

Elly: Readers can find me on the following sites:

Book site /  Author blog /  Twitter @EllyZupko / Facebook Fan page / Goodreads / AmazonAuthor page

Purchase Links

Paperback on Amazon / eBook on Smashwords / Kindle

And I'd like to gift the following to four winners. Enter the contest through the Rafflecopter below and good luck!

****GIVEAWAY****

3 E-BOOKS AND ONE SIGNED PAPERBACK!

“Countries do not fight each other. Men fight each other. And they only fight so that they can stop fighting and go home. It is the most horrific irony in the world.” The once-peaceful nations of Mitoch and Fairgos are locked in a bitter war. Lady Aurora, however, has known only quiet privilege for her 21 years inside the walls of the Cavalcata manor house. As the educated, eavesdropping daughter of the Fairgosian Royal War Master, she is confident she knows more than most . . . except when the promised Fairgosian victory will bring her father home for good. But when the currents of war sweep her, half alive, to the shores of brutal, backwards Mitoch, Aurora will unlearn everything she thought she knew—about the war, her country, her father, and herself—and discover what is really worth fighting for. The War Master’s Daughter tells the story of battles we all fight—those we wage with each other and also within ourselves. 

5 Star Reviews on Amazon!

About the Author:

Elly Zupko is a professional writer living in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. She grew up in rural Harford County on a four-acre property and now doesn’t even own a plant. Studying under acclaimed novelist and National Book Award finalist Madison Smartt Bell, she graduated Goucher College in 2003 with a degree in English/writing. She has had both her fiction and non-fiction published in a variety of outlets, including Preface, The Eloquent Atheist, The Baltimore Writer’s Project, Why Vandalism? and APMP’s Executive Summary.

Her short stories “What It Means to Be Alone” and “Fixed” are available to read online through their respective publications. Elly has been making things up since she was old enough to hold a crayon and turn Big Bird purple. Her passion for fiction extended into middle school, where she learned to forge signatures on bad progress reports, and through high school, when she finally began her first novel—incidentally, a very early iteration of The War Master’s Daughter.

Her first job out of college was at a small Baltimore publishing house, where she edited 11 novels that would go on to publication. This experience has given her an edge on navigating the rapidly changing publishing world, and she shares her experience and knowledge on her blog, Stuff Your Eyes With Wonder. Independently published under the SMLX Books imprint, The War Master’s Daughter is Elly Zupko’s first novel (...that you know about). 

 

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